Sports

Wednesday, January 17, 2001

Lobos find openings to get past Eagles, 45-40.

By JON FULBRIGHTStaff WriterPECOS, Jan. 17, 2001 -- The Pecos Eagles decided if the El Paso Mountain
View Lobos were going to beat them, it would be by someone besides Dustin
Maloney.
Which is exactly what the Lobos were able to do -- just barely -- Tuesday
night.
Arturo Muniz hit a pair of 3-pointers in the third period and Ivan
Lerma sank a pair of jump shots early in the fourth quarter while the Eagles
went cold, and Mountain View was able to use a 14-2 run to come away with
a 45-40 victory at the Pecos High School gym.
Pecos collapsed their defense on the 6-foot-7 Maloney all night, allowing
the other Lobos chances from the outside that they mostly failed to take
advantage of during the first half, which ended with the Eagles holding
a 21-20 lead. It was 26-all when Lerma hit the first of three jumpers during
the 14-2 run, while Muniz nailed hits 3-pointers and Albert Arrellano got
open for a foul line jumper. Other than those points, the three Lobos managed
only three points the rest of the way.

"We kind of changed up our zone after halftime to try and keep Maloney
from hurting us, but when you make an adjustment there's always a counter
to it and they found it," said Eagles' coach Tino Acosta. "They made those
little shots and took advantage of it."

Still, the Eagles had their chance to come back, but were done in by
their own problems rebounding missed foul shots

Alex Garcia, who kept Pecos in front most of the first half with a trio
of 3-pointers, cooled off in the middle periods before finding the range
again, after Lerma's foul line jump off a steal put Mountain View up 40-28.
He sank three straight 3s in a span of 90 seconds, which turned the 12-point
deficit into a 40-37 Lobo lead.

Maloney got open inside for a lay up and Rudy Meija would hit a lay-up
off a pass from Lerma after Ezra Varela missed a lay-up, which put Mountain
View back up by seven before Adrian Tarin hit a 12-footer with 45 seconds
left to go cutting the margin back to five and Joey Ortega sank one of
two foul shots nine seconds later to make it 44-40.

The Eagles were then forced to commit a series of fouls to put Mountain
View on the line in hopes they would miss their shots. The strategy worked
perfectly, as the Lobos failed on the front end of three straight 1-and-1s,
but after the first two misses Mountain View's Meija and Arrellano were
able to out-fight Ortega for the rebound, and while it produced no points,
it allowed the visitors to knock nine seconds off the clock.

Pecos finally did rebound the third missed 1-and-1 with 13 seconds to
play, but a pass upcourt was intercepted by Muniz, who sank one of two
foul shots with 4.3 seconds to play.

Garcia, who has been bothered by the shoulder separation he suffered
during football season, ended up with six 3-pointers and a game-high 20
points for Pecos, as the Eagles were forced to go outside to get most of
their points against the taller Lobos. The only possible mistake came with
Pecos down 44-39, when Garcia came up with a steal and opted for a 3-point
jumper in the closing 90 seconds, instead of going for the lay-up.

"The kid's got a lot of heart," Acosta said, while on the late-game
decision, "He was hot and he felt the shot, so he took it."

Pecos took their biggest lead of the game in the second period, when
they were able to sneak inside for baskets by Cesar Coria and Ortega, while
Coria hit a pair of free throws after being fouled for a 19-13 lead. But
Maloney, who led Mountain View with 17 points, was able to hit a trio of
lay-ups, including one for a three-point play, which cut the margin to
one by halftime.

After Garcia, the next highest scorers for Pecos was Varela with five
points, while Lerma had eight points for the Lobos, who are 1-1 in District
2-4A play.

The Eagles are 0-2 and now have to go to San Elizario to face that group
of Eagles, who ---

Mountain View also won Tuesday's junior varsity game, 35-29, while Pecos
took the freshman contest, 53-39. Matthew Levario led the JV with 11 points,
while Justin Lara had 14 points and Rick Barreno 13 to lead the ninth graders.

Mountain View too big an obstacle for Pecos

By JON FULBRIGHTStaff WriterPECOS, Jan. 17, 2001 -- They were outscored by nine points in the first
half, and by seven in the second, but the first 16 minutes of the Pecos
Eagles’ game Tuesday night looked a lot better than the last 16, even if
the numbers didn’t show up on the scoreboard.

Pecos lost to Mountain View by a 51-37 final score last night in a battle
for second place in the District 2-4A standings. Missed lay-ups cost the
Eagles in the first half, when Mountain View rolled off 15 straight points
in the opening period to turn a 7-4 deficit into a 19-7 lead, but Pecos
was still in the game until the third period, when problems caused by a
series of bad turnovers and lack of rebounding allowed the Lobos to widen
their margin to 20 points.

“It looked like it was already over when they came out in the third
quarter. We only scored two points,” said Eagles’ coach Veronica Valenzuela.
“At first we missed a bunch of easy shots under the basket, then we didn’t
have anybody to rebound.”

The Eagles had their chances and didn’t give the Lobos many easy shots
off turnovers in the opening half, but then started throwing the ball away
in the third quarter before they could get their shots off. “The problem
is the ones that need to be more aggressive won’t do it and the ones who
need to settle down and not foul or make mistakes aren’t doing it,” Valenzuela
said.

Two baskets by Philly Fobbs and a jumper and free throw by Jessica Rodriguez
gave the Eagles an early 7-4 lead, but neither player would score another
point in the game. Meanwhile, Mountain View was led by guard Susy Alva
who scored seven straight points in the 15-0 run that put the Lobos up
by 12.

Pecos halved that margin early in the second period, off a Christina
Arenivas basket and a three-point play by Tiana Terry, but was unable to
close the gap after that. Mountain View widened their lead to 32-21 at
halftime, then shut out Pecos over the final six minutes of the third quarter,
and would increase their margin to as much as 23 points in the fourth period
as Diana Gonzalez, Angela Lopez and Beronica Loera found openings underneath
for lay-ups.

The Lobos did stumble a bit over the final four minutes, though nowhere
near the 21-2 fourth quarter they suffered through in last Friday’s loss
to Clint. Pecos scored nine straight points to narrow a 23-point gap to
51-37 with 2½ minutes to play, but Terry missed a couple of free
throws at the 1:49 mark, and the Lobos were able to run out the clock after
that.

“The bottom just fell out in the second half. I don’t know if we were
getting too tired or what,” Valenzuela said. “We went to a zone, but even
then we shouldn’t let their girls get inside.”

Maricela Arenivas, who led the fourth quarter rally attempt, led Pecos
with 12 points, while Christina Arenivas added eight for the Eagles, who
fell to 5-11 on the season and 2-2 in district. Alva led all scorers with
19 points, including 7-for-7 from the foul line, as Mountain View improved
to 15-3 on the season and 3-1 in district.

Bears post sweep of games against Fort Davis

PECOS, Jan. 17, 2001 -- The Balmorhea Bears basketball teams both improved
their District 9-A records to 2-0 Tuesday night in Fort Davis, coming up
with road victories over the Indians and Maidens.

Balmorhea’s girls got ahead of Fort Davis early and were able to stay
there, taking a 41-36 decision from the Maidens, while Balmorhea’s boys
didn’t break open their game until late, outscoring the Indians 22-12 in
the fourth quarter for a 58-45 victory.

The girls’ leading scorer, Teri Hernandez, ran into shooting problems
on Tuesday, but her teammates were able to make up the difference, coach
Gary Gallego said.

“Teri had her worst shooting night of the season. She was only 2-for-14,”
and finished with 13 points, Gallego said. “I told her things like that
are going to happen.”

Hernandez still ended up with 13 points, while Celina Rodriguez led
all scorers with 20 and Chela Arredondo added eight.

Balmorhea led 6-4 after one period and held a 17-8 halftime lead before
Fort Davis cut that down to 22-19 after three quarters. “The closest they
got was in the first minute of the fourth quarter. They got within a basket,
but then we went to the foul line and hit a whole bunch of free throws
in the fourth quarter,” Gallego said, including 7-for-13 by Rodriguez and
3-of-4 for Hernandez.

Rodriguez also had 13 rebounds and Julia Garlick 12 for the Bears, who
are now 8-7 on the season.

The boys got 22 points from Isaiah Rodriguez and 12 from Billy Lozano
in their win. Balmorhea went up 13-6 after one period only to see Fort
Davis cut that to 24-23 at the half. The Bears were up 36-33 after three
periods and the Indians stayed close until the final minutes, when Balmorhea
pulled away.

Jeremiah Matta and Jerry Mendoza each scored 10 for Balmorhea, which
is 10-2 on the season going into Friday night’s home game, against the
Dell City Cougars. Balmorhea also won Tuesday’s junior varsity game, 65-24.
Ivan Rodriguez led the Bears with 21 points.